Avadon - Review @ Gear Diary

March 16th, 2011, 03:56

Obviously I'll obly buy it if I like it after playing the demo whenever it gets a Windows release… And I was just speculating, since I haven't actually played their games yet. Are you saying it really is dumbed down in ways that harm the game then? The review seemed to say there's lots of depth and choices and consequences. I haven't talked about DA2 much since I haven't played it but I don't really talk about the genre's decline either since I feel we've been getting plenty good RPGs lately with the likes of Drakensang, Divinity, Risen and The Witcher and their upcoming sequels that I look forward to among a few other titles. I'll also wait to see the pricing. I don't want to pay $25 for this game if it's gonna be $5 on a different platform, ripping me off.

@above, they could market that type of game on any platform, what makes ipad so special to be the most suitable for such games? The fact you have one?

I don't want to only play the last part of a gigantic series. If the quality is on par, I'd rather start a new one. If quality is not on par, then maybe I'll do what you say. I'm patient, I don't need a fix RIGHT NOW OR ELSE. I can wait and see.

Originally Posted by Al3xand3r
@above, they could market that type of game on any platform, what makes ipad so special to be the most suitable for such games? The fact you have one?

My guess is is that the ipad has a nice "big" screen and is very compactable (versus a laptop, etc).
To be honest i most likely buy an ipad 2 or 3 just to play this kinda games during my vacations and during long trips.

Originally Posted by Al3xand3r
I don't want to only play the last part of a gigantic series. If the quality is on par, I'd rather start a new one. If quality is not on par, then maybe I'll do what you say. I'm patient, I don't need a fix RIGHT NOW OR ELSE. I can wait and see.

I am kind of in the same boat you are, I didn't start looking into indie RPGs until Avernum was already nearing its end and didn't want to start with the sixth game. I am planning on getting Avadon first, then going back to Avernum if I like it.

That said a lot of people have told me you don't need any prior experience with the series to enjoy Avernum VI.

I'd say having played one game in the series is plenty. Jeff reuses nearly everything in his games, so you don't need to play a whole series, just one game in each. In Avernum you will cover the same caverns, towns, npcs, in multiple games. There are new people added each time, but you'll meet a few who are in the whole series and many that are in multiple episodes. Same thing with towns and such. If you play games for the story, then Jeff's games do follow a kinda vague storyline that progresses in each game.

It does look good and its not even part of the previous games. I have skipped most spiderweb games but this could be a great way to return to them.

Spiderweb took a chance this year – they left behind the established and well-loved worlds of Avernum and Geneforge and set out on a new adventure. Avadon: The Black Fortress is the start of a new franchise, and so far it is looking like we are in for a great series!

I remember playing exile like in 90s? That game was full of awesome back then. Plot, party, sound effects, etc.

-- “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
"Those who dont read history are destined to repeat it."– Edmund Burke

These kinds of games would be perfect for the iPad. Being able to hold it like a book, with an auto-save function at power down, simple download updates and not needing intense processing power. And the whole thing is playable with point and click.

Wouldnt it be too inaccurate to play game like this from touchscreen? I often misstouch when I use my touchphone. 15min of agry birds ok but 2-3 hours of complex rpg? Wouldnt it become tiresom to hold the screen for the lengthy sessions it takes to play a rpg?

-- “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
"Those who dont read history are destined to repeat it."– Edmund Burke

To the doubters: Check out the Avadon demo, and try out an iPad at some point. The game is a natural fit, and the iPad touch screen is extremely accurate, and obviously much larger than an iPhone.

And you can rest it in your lap and sit wherever you want. They even make little cases that fold back to hold the thing at an angle… you don't need a grip on it. Don't you get equally sick of sitting at a desk?

And no, I'm not arguing for the death of PC rpgs. I simply think a game like Avadon is a natural fit for an iPad.

I still don't see how it's more a natural fit than a PC or basically any other device but hey, if it works for you, it works for you and that's that. Ipad's portability to me isn't worth it over a notebook that may have a smaller screen but at least comes with a decent keyboard for all the other functions these things do. idevices' gaming functions are also quite limited with a touch only interface (although admitedly sufficient for point & click stuff including simple RPGs like these seem to be) so I might as well go for an actual portable console like the 3DS or NGP or whatever else will have a much greater range of game styles with the added bonus that they won't have new models in 6 months, and if they do, they'll not have better specs so all games will work just as well on the very first model as on the last for the next several years, unlike the various Apple devices…

As for the game in question, I dunno how he expects to sell a $25 game on a platform that Apple has conditioned its audience into paying only $0-5 for cheap/quickware content but who knows, maybe it'll be a surprise hit. Unless he intends to sell it for $5 on the Apple store, in which case no way will I buy any version that is higher than that even if I can't access that one version. If it's $5 anywhere it should be $5 everywhere… But I don't know his plans so we'll just have to wait and see about that part…

Originally Posted by DoctorNarrative
That said a lot of people have told me you don't need any prior experience with the series to enjoy Avernum VI.

You don't need to play any previous games to enjoy Avernum 6. It's insane that people avoid a great game over something so ridiculously trivial.

@Alexander, there's no way he will only charge $5. He knows he will cover his needs (as usual) with the Mac and PC releases. If the iPad version sells a few more, well, that's nice. He won't be relying on the iPad version to survive.

For the record I didn't mock the iPad version because of game mechanics, I mocked it because the iPad is an overpriced piece of shit from a company that makes money by convincing people they need their products to be cool.

Originally Posted by DoctorNarrative
For the record I didn't mock the iPad version because of game mechanics, I mocked it because the iPad is an overpriced piece of shit from a company that makes money by convincing people they need their products to be cool.

Flamebait detected, Dottore. Lets not have another Apple / Platform war thread please. It should be well known by now that people get too emotional over this shit (both ways I might add), so let's just not make such comments, huh?

Originally Posted by DoctorNarrative
For the record I didn't mock the iPad version because of game mechanics, I mocked it because the iPad is an overpriced piece of shit from a company that makes money by convincing people they need their products to be cool.

Teehee!

Yawn.

Anyway, regarding why Vogel might want to target the iPad, the reality is that if he gets a featured position on the iTunes App Store and/or some word of mouth, he could make more on the App Store in an afternoon than in the entire last 17 years of Spiderweb games …

Anyway, regarding why Vogel might want to target the iPad, the reality is that if he gets a featured position on the iTunes App Store and/or some word of mouth, he could make more on the App Store in an afternoon than in the entire last 17 years of Spiderweb games …

I think you're quite right, which is why I think the entire concept of smartphone/gadget games and the app store business model - regardless of platform - is detrimental to the kind of games we like.

I realise many people are happy about such games, but I think they represent very poor compensation for all those lost enthusiast titles we might have seen instead.

Still, can't blame people for going for the buck - if that's what they're about.

I also detect quite an emotional investment or support for these Spiderweb games, and though I can't talk about Avadon - it seems pretty obvious that it is indeed a streamlined "mainstream indie" game. Contradiction in terms? Nah, not really.

Not saying that's a bad thing, as that would depend on personal preference.